A material better known for preventing marine life from sticking to the bottom of ships has been shown by researchers at the University of North Carolina to have the potential to be a non-flammable replacement for electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries.

leThe discovery could help rebuild consumer confidence in lithium-ion battery technology which has been subjected to a good deal of negative publicity following a series of high profile safety mishaps including lithium battery fires on Boeing 787 Dreamliners and Tesla Model S vehicles. The UK's specialist aviation safety regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has recently expressed concerns "that the huge growth in people carrying lithium batteries on aircraft poses a growing fire risk".

The researchers realized that perfluoropolyether (PFPE), a material they had been researching for the Office of Naval Research to prevent marine life from sticking to the bottom of ships, had a similar chemical structure to a polymeric electrolyte commonly studied for lithium-ion batteries. PFPE is a polymer that has been in use for long time as a heavy-duty lubricant to keep gears in industrial machinery running smoothly.

The work, published in the Feb. 10 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, paves the way for developing a new generation lithium-ion battery that doesn't spontaneously combust at high temperatures.

"There is a big demand for these batteries and a huge demand to make them safer," explained DeSimone, Chancellor's Eminent Professor of Chemistry in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences and the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at N.C. State University and of Chemistry at UNC. "Researchers have been looking to replace this electrolyte for years, but nobody had ever thought to use this material called perfluoropolyether, or PFPE, as the main electrolyte material in lithium-ion batteries before."

Today's lithium-ion batteries power everything from mobile devices - phones, tablets and laptops - to jumbo airliners and plug-in electric cars, but an inherently flammable liquid is used as the electrolyte. Lithium ions shuttle through this liquid from one electrode to the other when the battery is being charged. But when the batteries are overcharged, the electrolyte can catch fire and